SALT MINES, SIBERIA – Much like our esteemed colleague Ben Whitney, my subject this week will be inspired by Elvis Andrus’ curious choice of walk up song, the kids favorite, Baby Shark. I believe he made this choice like anyone who gets a song stuck in their head and then tells someone else about it in order to pass the song on and remove it from your own brain. Memo to Elvis: It won’t work, just ask my kids. But rather than talk about sharks, I’m going to talk about Walk-Up Songs and some other curious and dubious choices made in that realm.
For the most part I’m going to stick to the Mets here, because their park is where I hear peoples’ choices.
First Up in the curious case of: Did He Really Listen To The Song Before Choosing? category:
David Wright – The Luniz “I’ve got five on it.” Okay, I get that Wright’s number was Five and that’s why he chose this ditty. But has he really listened to it? The song is about putting five bucks in on a bag of weed. Is that the message Wright wanted to send to the kids? Is he a closet cannabis officianado? Or is an idiot who hasn’t done his due diligence. I’m going with the latter.
There was a guy on the Rays a few years ago who walked up to “Uncontrollable Urge” by Devo, an inspired choice but a head-scratcher, as the guy was way too young to know who Devo was and pro athletes are not generally known for their music acumen.
In the most annoying category was Carlos “Caught Looking” Beltran’s tune whose name I have no idea about but it went “tierres aqui… tierres aqui… blah blah blah.” It still stuck in head to this day and probably the main reason he was ultimately a failure as a Met.
In the bold but What The F— category was La Potencia, Yoenis Cespedes actually commissioning someone to write a song for him, entitled “Cespedes” just in time for the 2015 postseason. Dude, take it easy. I blame that song choice for his lack of production under the glare of the post as much as his injuries. Fortunately he later abandoned it, but has never recovered.
I’ve stated for a number of years if I was in MLB my walk up song would “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead. I’m not why no one has chosen that song, although maybe someone has. Nothing better to get you ready to grind out your at bat then Lemmy.
What’s your Walk-Up Song? Chime in below and come back tomorrow for Junoir Blaber. His Walk-Up Song is “It’s Raining Men.”
